Fragile
by Somethingclever28
Summary: There is no fear like a 3 am phone call and seeing the one you love in pieces. Caini. One shot possible two shot. Just for entertainment purpose. I have no affiliation with Austin and Ally or its actors.


There is a distinct terror in 3 am phone calls. The sound is louder and harsher somehow. He groped around the bedside table while blinking to clear his eyes. The number was unfamiliar but with a local area code. His number was unlisted. It had to be someone he knew.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Worthy?"

"Yes."

"This is Dawn at Brotman Medical Center. I am sorry to wake you but there has been an accident. Raini Rodriguez was brought in through our Emergency Department. You were listed as one her emergency contacts. I was unable to reach her family members."

"Wait. What do you mean there's been an accident? Let me talk to Raini."

"Sir, that's not possible. She-"

"No. We just talked. Everything was fine. Let. . To. Raini"

"Sir, I need you to listen to me. She was in a motor vehicle accident."

"Now, I know this is a mistake. Raini doesn't drive."

"She was the passenger. Mr. Worthy, she hasn't regained consciousness. If you would like to come up and sit in the waiting room until she is transferred to a room, the doctor can give you more details. Just come to the main desk and they will direct you. Do you know if her family lives in town?"

"They were coming back from Texas. They were supposed to be in by 5."

"Thanks, I'll keep trying them."

Calum hung up the phone, began texting furiously, and took the quickest shower of his life. He just kept telling himself over and over it wasn't happening. She is alright. Everything was going to be alright.

He felt completely numb as he approached the main desk of the hospital and was sent to the appropriate waiting room. The only other person in the waiting room was a man who looked about his age with dark hair and green eyes. He had about 20 pounds on Calum but Calum was a couple inches taller. The other man looked up from his phone.

"You're Calum, right?" Calum nodded. "I'm Baxter. Raini talks a lot about you."

"That's funny. She doesn't talk about you at all."

"It's kind of recent. Our thing."

"Must be. I talked to her 6 hours ago."

The two men stood sizing each other up for a moment and then the door opened a nurse came in looking a little worse for wear.

"Mr. Worthy?"

"Yes."

"Come this way, please."

Calum followed the nurse as she pushed a code on a keypad and the door opened. She led him to a room. He took a deep breath as she opened the door. She was covered in tubes and wires. Her beautiful face was covered in bruises and swollen. Her right arm and leg were in casts. The heart monitor on the wall seemed dull in comparison to his own hammering heart rate.

A doctor stepped in the room and whispered quietly to the nurse.

"Is she? Is she going to be alright?" His voice broke terribly as he tried to maintain composure.

"She has a broken arm and leg. And we are keeping her in the ICU over night and having a second CT scan to make sure there was no internal bleeding. She hasn't woken up yet so there is also a possibility of brain damage and I'm afraid we won't know more until we can evaluate her waking state. She remarkably didn't have any spinal damage. All we can do now is try to keep her comfortable and wait."

Calum shook the doctor's offered hand and watched him and the nurse leave. He sat next to her bed and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. Should he speak to her? He had no idea if she could hear him.

"Raini, I'm here. No matter what. No matter how long. I'm here. Just like always."

He sat just holding her hand until the nurse came back and said her parents had arrived and according to hospital rules the ICU patients could only have one visitor at a time.

He kissed Raini's hand and walked out to see two officers standing in the hallway.

"Poor kid. My daughter loves her show. It's crazy. That guy she was riding with finally broke after some pressure and admitted he was checking a text message and hit that wall. Punk bastard didn't even come away with a scratch."

Calum felt his hands start to shake. He picked up pace and slammed through the door. He came face to face with Raini's parents and younger brother. Diane's face was tear stained and red. He rushed passed them and heard them calling his name.

Calum found the door he was looking for and slammed it open. He was just sitting there playing on his phone as if he didn't just collapse Calum's whole world.

"Baxter !"

Calum kicked his feet out from under him as he simultaneously slammed his left elbow across his face. The other man fell to the ground blood spurting from his mouth. Calum lost count of how many times he hit him when he felt himself being pulled off him. Rico was pulling his arm.

"What happened? What happened?"

"Did you know this fucker was sending a text when he crashed his car?"

"What?" Rico looked at the other man and swiftly kicked him in a sensitive area.

"What-"Calum and Rico turned to see Roy in the doorway and then the two cops walking up behind him.

"We had a call there was a disturbance. Someone care to share."

"This young man was harassing my sons and they defended themselves."

The officers looked from Roy to Rico then from Roy to Calum. They recognized Baxter from the accident and nodded to each other. They picked him up off the floor to go to emergency services.

Calum backed into the nearest wall, slid down it and collapsed into body wracking sobs. He heard Raini's mother's voice speak to her father and he left the room. She slid down next to him and pulled him close to her. She rubbed his head and back.

He was finally calm and they sat silently side by side for a while.

"She is going to be okay, sweetie. I know it in my heart. We just have to be patient and keep each other strong."

"I should go. This is a time for family."

"You are family, Calum but if you need to get some sleep you should go home."

"That reminds me. Roy said I was his son to the police."

"Did he now?" Diane gave a small knowing smile "See, I told you..family."

The next day, he came in to sit with Raini while her family went home for a break. He passed them in the hall. Diana gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Roy told them to go on and he stopped in front of him.

"I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for being here for her when we couldn't and thank you for laying that kid out when I couldn't. "

"Gotta protect our Raini, right? All in the family."

Roy looked at him. "Do you know why I called you my son? I keep hoping that what I ,and pretty much everyone, see, that something you two have. It will become something more. But, if that's not something you two want to pursue, you're still family."

He patted Calum on the back and walked down the hall. Calum smiled to himself and waited for admittance to the ICU. He sat down in the chair and watched her breathing. He moved the chair closer and starting twirling his finger around one of her curls.

"Raini, I think your dad just told me he wants me to be his son in law. I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind and remember that selfie you posted with Francesca? And someone commented she looked like our daughter. Did I ever tell you when I pictured our kids, they always had more of an olive skin tone? I'm rambling but the point is for all this to happen I need you to come back to me. Who is going to keep me in line? "

He let tears fall and rested his head against her hand on the bed. He let memories flood his mind and he felt as if he concentrated on them hard enough maybe she wouldn't go away. He wasn't sure how long he had sat like that. Suddenly, he heard a voice. A weak imitation but still the one he wanted he to.

"Hey, you, Coppertop. My hand is numb. "

He sat up so quickly he almost fell off the chair. He pushed the call button and stepped out so more tests could be done. He called Raini's mom and felt like he couldn't smile any harder as he heard her break into happy tears.

He waited in the hall as they wheeled her by to take one more CT scan. They stopped in front of him for moment to collect papers.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You were here with me."

"Yeah. But don't let it go to your head. Nothing was on tv."

She laughed weakly as they wheeled her away.


End file.
